


Lights Out

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Foxtrot [65]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, The Dollhouse - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen, not actually RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 10:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6280942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: <i>Any, Any, Blindness.</i> Stuck in the SGC during a lockdown and a power outage. Set post-series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lights Out

The entire base was in lockdown because SG-13 had come through the gate bearing some kind of airborne alien virus. Not only was the entire base in lockdown, but anyone who didn't have a hazmat suit was locked down where they'd been standing when the sirens went off.  
  
Cam supposed he should count himself lucky, that he was in the mess hall when the sirens went off. Anyone who needed to could duck into the back and use the kitchen staff's bathroom, and there was an endless supply of food and water. Some industrious people had brought their laptops and were getting work done. Most people, who'd been in the middle of friendly conversation when the sirens went off, resumed their conversations once the nature of the emergency was disclosed.  
  
After two hours, though, even those who'd brought laptops to work were bored.  
  
After four hours, everyone had had enough of looking up cat videos on YouTube (except for Vala, but her opinion didn't count).  
  
And then at six hours, the lights went off.  
  
Because they were in an underground base, everything was pitch black.  
  
Most of the scientists scrambled to shut down their laptops and unplug them to save power and avoid damage by power surge when the power came back on. Since cell phones didn't work that far down beneath the mountain, no one had bothered to bring theirs. Most cell phones were left in the lockers all day, and anyone who passed the locker rooms was guaranteed to hear at least one cell phone going off.  
  
One person had a flashlight.  
  
That was Daniel, because he'd fully been intending to read, but the notion of him sitting in the corner and enjoying a book while the rest of them were basically blind in the dark was unacceptable.  
  
"Is this the part where we tell scary stories?" Joe asked.  
  
Cam thought it was Joe. Without being able to see the man's haircut, he couldn't tell if it was Joe or Sheppard. Cam commandeered Daniel's flashlight, exercising his right as former team leader, and shined it in the direction of the voice. Longer hair. Joe.  
  
"This isn't summer camp," Bill muttered.  
  
"We should save the flashlight," Sam said. "For when we need to make trips to the bathroom."  
  
"Right you are." Cam clicked it off and was plunged into absolute blackness. He waved a hand in front of his own face experimentally. Nothing.  
  
"I hate total darkness," Daniel said in a low voice.  
  
"So now not only are we bored, we're also stuck exactly where we're sitting because we can't get around." Bill had a distinct whine to his voice.  
  
Cam knew it was a bad day when he missed Rodney McKay's whining.  
  
"Shouldn't the back-up generators have kicked on by now?" Vala asked.  
  
"Indeed," Teal'c intoned.  
  
Awkward silence fell.  
  
"You know," Sheppard said, "I can get around. At least, I can get around better than any of you can. Without a cane it's a little risky, but I made sure I could navigate all my living and work spaces just in case."  
  
"Just in case?" Lorne echoed. Cam had forgotten he was even in the room. He sounded like he was close to Sheppard.  
  
"Okay," Sheppard said ruefully, "I might have been a little bored. That being said, though, I can get around. Find stuff for people."  
  
"We could play blind man's bluff," Vala said. "That's a party game, right?"  
  
"That party game is designed to allow for 'inadvertent' feeling up of the other players, so no," Daniel said firmly. He sounded like he had moved closer to Vala. "Besides, the fact that one of Sheppard's imprints is actually blind kind of defeats the purpose."  
  
"Maybe we should tell scary stories," Sam said.  
  
"Isn't that about the same as reading one of your old mission reports?" Lorne asked.  
  
Joe snorted. "Says the guy who's read every one of them." There was definite fondness in his voice. Cam was never going to not be at least a little weirded out by Joe's mere existence.  
  
"You mean Cam?" Sam asked, her tone just a little too innocent.  
  
Cam was glad it was dark, because he could feel himself blushing. Even after all these years of working alongside legends and heroes, he was still just a tiny bit in awe of them. Maybe even more in awe of them, knowing their flaws and quirks beneath their heroic deeds.

Daniel Jackson without his three cups of coffee first thing in the morning was a monster and a disaster, but he could be coffee-deprived for three days and still go toe-to-toe with a System Lord.  
  
"You've done that too?" Lorne asked.  
  
"Maybe we could play a game," Cam said in lieu of answering. "One of those getting-to-know-you games?"  
  
There was a chorus of groans in response.  
  
"You know," Sheppard said, "I can taste color."  
  
Sam perked up, interested. "Does one of your imprints have synesthesia?"  
  
"Pianist, my blind imprint, he's never seen color," Sheppard said, and his voice sounded like it was moving toward Sam's, "but he can taste the difference between different colored M&M's. After a while he learned to name the color just because he'd taste an M&M and ask the color and he learned to associate the name with the taste."  
  
"Now you're just messing with us." Daniel's tone was heavy with skepticism.  
  
"Hang on," said Bill, "I actually knew a girl who could do that in college. She wasn't blind, though. But she could taste colors. She wasn't super accurate about it – she had a hard time telling orange from red or yellow."  
  
"That's because orange is a mix of red and yellow," Sheppard said simply.  
  
There was a contemplative silence, and then a voice Cam thought belonged to a young airman piped up. "I have a package of M&M's in my pocket."  
  
"Ooh, give it here!" Vala cried. "Who wants to lay bets on whether Colonel Sheppard can actually taste colors?"  
  
"The game is pointless without a light to verify his claims," Daniel pointed out, annoyingly reasonable. Cam was just about bored enough to agree to the game.  
  
"We have that one flashlight," Vala said.  
  
Lorne made a sound of negation. "No. We need to save that so we can make trips to the bathroom."  
  
"Sheppard could always lead us to the bathrooms, couldn't he?" Vala asked.  
  
"Pretty sure there's a _blind leading the blind_ joke in there somewhere," Joe murmured, and Sheppard laughed softly. In the darkness it was uncanny, like his voice was in stereo.  
  
Another awkward silence fell over the room.  
  
Daniel said, "So, getting to know you games?"  
  
The lights came on right then, and they couldn't have come on fast enough.  
  
Cam made a break for it as soon as he could, disposing of his tray and heading for the door. As he was leaving, he saw Vala brandishing a bandanna for use as a blindfold and a package of M &M's at Sheppard.


End file.
